Ewe (animal)

“ When the ewe is lost in yeaning, her lamb, if it survive her, must be reared by another dam. Some little artifice is always necessary to induce a ewe to adopt the offspring of another. Covering the lamb with the skin of her own dead one, is sometimes resorted to, but this is hardly required, as any dam will take to another's offspring if the parties be shut up for some time together. Ewes that are late in lambing should be collected together, so as to be more under the care of the shepherd, and ought to be well fed, for the sake of bringing forward their lambs. ”

“ The ewe, however, even at those times, does not appear more animated; and has only instinct sufficient not to refuse the approaches of the male, to chuse her food and to know her own lamb. Instinct is more certain as it is more mechanical. ”

“ Wednesday, May 6.—A native dog attacked the flock yesterday, and would not be driven away by all the shepherd's exertions, but at last caught one by the throat and so worried it that it died to-day. It was a fine ewe, forward in lamb. This is not my only misfortune, for I have found one of my best young ewes in the river to-night drowned; it was weak, having been bled and physicked yesterday.—The police are here to-day. I had sent for them to endeavour to arrest some of the owners of these dogs, but they (the natives) made off. ”

“ An ewe will distinguish her own lamb’s bleat among a thousand all bleating at the same time, and making a noise a thousand times louder than the singing of psalms at a Cameronian sacrament in the fields, where thousands are congregated—and that is no joke either. Besides, the distinguishment of voice is perfectly reciprocal between the ewe and lamb, who amid the deafening sound run to meet one another. There are few things have ever amused me more than a sheep-shearing, and then the sport continues the whole day. ”

“ A ewe never knows her own lamb by sight, and apparently has no sense of colour. She can recognise its voice half a mile off among a thousand other voices apparently exactly similar; but when she gets within five yards of it she starts to smell all the other lambs within reach, including the black ones—though her own may be white. ”

“ But if the lamb ceases to make efforts to rise—especially if the ewe has left off licking it while it is wet and chilly—it is time to render assistance. It is not advisable to throw the ewe down—as is frequently practised—in order to suckle the lamb; because instinct teaches the latter to point its nose upward in search of the teats. It is, therefore, doubly difficult to teach it to suck from the bag of the prostrate ewe; and when it is taught to do this, by being so suckled several times, it is awkward about finding the teat in the natural position, when it begins to stand and help itself. ”

“ The carcass of a Southdown wether, when well fatted, 363 is large, weighing, at two to three years old, a hundred to a hundred and twenty pounds. The ewe is a prolific breeder, and a good nurse. They are exceedingly hardy, and will thrive equally well in all climates, and on all our soils, where they can live. ”

“ The legs are brown, as are also the ends of the hairs about the neck; the hoofs are black. "A ewe will weigh about 100 lb. when in full flesh, with only the entrails taken out. The head bears every resemblance to that of our European sheep." The colour of the males is nearly the same as that of the females, only rather browner; they are much larger and more strongly built, with a pair of enormous horns, which incline backward. As they grow they bend downward, and in the course of time form a complete curve and project forward. ”

“ It may not be superfluous, though seemingly a repetition, to state that a good ewe flock should exhibit these characteristics: strong bone, supporting a roomy frame, affording space for a large development of flesh; abundance of wool of a good quality, keeping the ewes warm in inclement weather, and insuring profit to the breeder; a disposition to fatten early, enabling the breeder readily to get rid of his sheep selected for the butcher; and a prolific tendency, increasing the flock rapidly, and being also a source of profit. ”

“ In order to do this, a ewe is held three or four times a-day for the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the sheep-pen. At no time is it allowed to associate with other dogs, or with the children of the family. From this education, it has no wish to leave the flock, and just as another dog will defend his master, so will these the sheep. ”

“ The predisposing symptoms of lambing are, enlargement and reddening of the parts under the tail, and drooping of the flanks. The more immediate are, when the ewe stretches herself frequently; separating herself from her companions; exhibiting restlessness by not remaining in one place for any length of time; lying down and rising up again, as if dissatisfied with the place; pawing the ground with a forefoot; bleating, as if in quest of a lamb; and appearing fond of the lambs of other ewes. ”

“ Slowly the pencil slipped from his fingers, and the slate followed it into the sand. For a while he lay motionless, then began muttering to himself, folded his little arms, laid his head down upon them, and might have been asleep, but for the muttering sound that from time to time proceeded from him. A curious old ewe came to sniff at him; but it was long before he raised his head. When he did, he looked at the far-off hills with his heavy eyes.
“Ye shall receive—ye shall receive—shall, shall, shall,” he muttered. ”

“ Be that as it may, the fact remains that, as surely as the lambing season comes round, so surely large flocks of Vultures appear, and, circling and wheeling in the air above the ewes, seize the opportunity when the poor creatures are in their most helpless condition to attack them, pick out their eyes, and eventually kill both lamb and ewe with the most frightful torture conceivable. ”

“ Although of a moderate size, and well covered, it does not live more than nine or ten years. The Ewe has one or two young at a time, and the young one, which is called a lamb, has always been an emblem of innocence. ”

“ It is of the utmost importance for those commencing flocks, either of full-bloods, or by crossing, to select the choicest rams. A grown ram may, by methods which will hereafter be described, be made to serve from one hundred to one hundred and fifty ewes in a season. A good Merino ram will, moderately speaking, add more than a pound of wool to the fleece of the dam, or every lamb got by it, from a common-woolled ewe—that is, if the ewe at three years old sheared three pounds of wool, the lamb at the same age will shear four. ”

“ As a rule, the male is generative up to the age of sixty-five, and to the age of forty-five the female is capable of conception.
The ewe bears up to eight years, and, if she be carefully tended, up to eleven years; in fact, the ram and the ewe are sexually capable pretty well all their lives long. He-goats, if they be fat, are more or less unserviceable for breeding ”

“ Having to feed three or four eaglets, he said, the birds would descend on the flocks, the she-eagle, the larger, stronger and fiercer, will attack and drive off even the dog that does not fear a wolf, yet I have seen, he continued, a timid ewe, her youngling behind her in a coign in the hill, face the bird fiercely and butt it till she lost her eyes, poor ewe, for I came up too late with my staff. ”

“ It is nothing particular for ewes, at their yeaning time, to stray: some have been known to travel an hundred miles to their native place to yean. The author remembers a ewe which had with others been sold to the southward, and was kept on the Haughs of the Humber, from which she strayed, and reaching Makendon, on the borders of Scotland, she travelling about twenty yards within her original pasture, there squatted and yeaned in half an hour. ”

“ As a ewe is pregnant for one hundred and fifty days, this arrangement causes her to drop her lambs at the end of autumn when the temperature is mild and the grass is renewed by the first rains. During the breeding season the flock should drink only the same kind of water, since a change not only makes spotted wool but injures the offspring. When all the ewes have been stinted, the rams should be separated from them again, because it injures ewes to be teased while they are pregnant. ”

“ The rams come in from the hills on the 1st of January and are sent to winter on turnips. Weak ewes, not safe to survive the hardships of spring, are brought in to better pasture during February and March. Ewe hogs wintered on grass in the low country from the 1st of November are brought home in April, and about the middle of April on the average mountain ewes begin to lamb. One lamb at weaning time for every ewe is rather over the normal amount of produce. Cheviot and cross-bred lambs are marked, and the males are castrated, towards the end of May. ”

“ A ram or wether lamb, after being weaned, is called a hog, or hoggitt, tag, or pug, throughout the first year, or until it renew two teeth; the ewe, a ewe-lamb, ewe-tag, or pug. In the second year the wether takes the name of shear-hog, and has his first two renewed or broad teeth, or he is called a two-toothed tag or pug; the ewe is called a thaive, or two-toothed ewe tag, or pug. ”

“ A sound ewe, in good order, drops a lamb covered with a thick and yellow slime, which the ewe licks off it, and the rule is, the sounder and the higher the condition the ewe is in, the darker and thicker will be the slime; but when they observe a ewe drop a lamb covered with thin watery bubbles, and very white, they note her down as unsound. ”

“ They’re so immensely upset about the poor flies I catch; and they kill a fly themselves if he only settles on their nose. It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other. Nothing but sentimental affectation. Besides, I have no objection to changing my name. You can call me spinner, if you prefer. That’s a word which a dainty little lady like you can pronounce without fainting; and it suits me, because there’s not an [26] animal in the world that spins as beautifully as I do.”
“That’s all very likely,” said the mouse, shaking her head. ”

“ An ewe swallows some of the ashes, and bears two lambs, marked like the boys, with a moon on the head and a star on the nape of the neck. The new queen orders the lambs to be slaughtered, and their entrails to be thrown out into the street. ”

“ Lang, lang she thought ere her ewes woud bught,
Wi her pail for to milk the ewes.
O the broom, the bonny, bonny broom,
The broom o the Cowdenknowes!
And aye sae sweet as the lassie sang,
In the ewe-bught, milking her ewes.
And aye as she sang the greenwoods rang,
Her voice was sae loud and shrill;
They heard the voice of this well-far'd maid
At the other side o the hill.
'My mother she is an ill woman,
And an ill woman is she;
Or than she might have got some other maid
To milk her ewes without me. ”

“ The lion, hurried by fear, fled through the forest. Wherever he came, the terrified animals fell aside.
“The lion is flying from Two-Legs,” announced the sparrow.
And the rumour spread through the whole forest and grew.
“Two-Legs has wounded the lion with his spear,” screamed the crow.
“Two-Legs has killed the lion and is hunting the lioness,” squeaked the mouse.
And the lion fled on.
He rushed past his lair, as though he dare not look his wife in the face. He did not come home until late at night.
“Are you still alive?” asked the lioness, scoffing. “The whole forest believes you dead. ”

“ The ewe bent and drank sparingly, meaningly. The lamb sniffed the water, and, unsatisfied, complained. The hut was hidden, but it turned that way. Again the ewe leisurely drank. This time the lamb's lips touched the water, but did not drink. Into its mouth raised to bleat a few drops fell. Hastily the mother's head went to the water. ”

“ If they can not get away, they place the lambs in the center of the flock, and the old sheep face outward, the biggest rams in advance.
6. When the fox or the dog is within a few yards, the rams rush at him, and they are nearly always successful in killing or driving him away.
7. The ewe has so strong a love for her lamb, that she will face any danger to protect it. ”

“ The crow’s children screamed in the tree-tops; the young eagles flew from the rock to try their [95] wings. The starling drove her first brood from the nest and laid new eggs; the frog lived to see her degenerate young grow quite respectable before she herself was swallowed by the stork.
Never had the fish swarmed so thickly in the river, never had the beech’s leaves been so broad, never had the copsewood been so dense, never had the flowers pressed so close together in the hedge.
And the Prince of Summer stood amidst his kingdom taller and straighter and more radiant than ever:
“It is well!” ”

“ It was not inflicted on me by a ram, which is occasionally bellicose, but by ewes with their lambs, and I distinctly remember being as surprised as if the sky had fallen or something utterly opposed to all causation had confronted me. I want to meet a man, even of approved courage, who would not be shocked into fair fright by having half-a-dozen ewes suddenly turn and charge him with the fury of a bullock's mad onset. ”

“ He wove a long rope of tendrils and then went off with his spear, the dog and two of his sons.
He stole along the borders of the forest until at last he caught sight of a sheep who was grazing in a distant meadow with two lambs. He crept up to her on all fours, while Trust received orders to be quite still. When he was near enough, he flung the sling and was lucky enough to drop it just over the neck of the sheep. She bleated pitifully, but the noose held fast and tightened. Two-Legs, rejoicing, led the animal home and the two little lambs came after, for they did not know what else to do. ”